THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K. 

VISCOUNT MONTAGUE'S CURSE

Text copyright Valerie Martin 1999

At the time of the pillaging of the monasteries — the disestablishement of the Roman Catholic Church and redistribution of its wealth by King Henry VIII, it is said that a gentleman by the name of Sir Anthony Browne was holding a banquet in the Abbey Hall. I have discovered that a cowled figure of a monk approached his table and solemnly damned him with the punishing utterance —

"By fire and water thy line shall come to an end, thus shall it perish over the land".

I have found that Sir Anthony Browne's family were to have connections with mystery and intrigue in future years, leading in the meantime their successors to Muntham Court in Findon.

When completed, his red brick Georgian mansion at Muntham, enhanced by carefully laid out great plantations and fishponds, was more than just a mere hunting lodge. Little is known about the actual house and gardens at this time, except for the Viscount laying out the plantations. The property on all accounts provided an extremely attractive gentleman's country retreat, if rather secluded, being one-mile north-west of the village. It was protected by the Downs and woodland from the bane of the plague-bearing west wind — dreaded by all. The grandly laid out grounds and surrounding farmlands were extensive and in 1754 the new owner even —

"brought water with great expense to the house".

I imagine that this refers to the sinking of the Muntham well.    Gilbert White thought it worth noting in 1773 that there was indeed a well at the house and it was 350 ft. deep.   The power source may have been by horse or by donkey-engine (as utilised elsewhere on the Downs).    The water must have been laboriously brought up by buckets, unless pumps were installed.

As the water table was more than 200 feet below the surface in most places in Findon, the supply of water must have been a serious problem to all the eighteenth century owners; hence the number of large trial holes excavated in the vicinity of Muntham Court. These were noted and commented on by the Bishop, Dr. Richard Pococke (1704-65) on one of the travels in 1754 when passing through Findon. The water was almost certainly laboriously raised by buckets. The source of power may have been a horse or a donkey engine until pumps were installed.

The Browne family moving to their "hunting box" in the Findon district were to be the subject of much tragedy in the near future, believed to have resulted from the almost forgotten old monk's curse during in the reign of Henry VIII.

Sir Anthony and his wife stayed at Muntham for twenty-two happy years until 1761, and during this time it appears that there were no retributions or untoward violently happenings to blight their tenure. I do not know if there were any owners or tenants in between but the Muntham Estate was eventually sold to William Frankland in 1765 for £6,300.

In 1793 the curse came calling, two centuries after the monk's wrath. There was a massive blaze at the Browne's mansion at Cowdray. The watchman calling "fire in the North Gallery" awakened the skeleton staff on duty on Thursday 24th September in the dead of night. The property blazed like a tinder-box and it is reputed to have smouldered on for a whole fortnight afterwards.

Supposition was rife and resurrected the words of the ecclesiastical man and brought the curse to the forefront once more. At the same time as Cowdray was destroyed by fire, its then owner, the 8th Viscount, was tragically drowned while attempting to shoot the cataracts in a rowing boat at Laufenburg on the Rhine. He died before he knew about the loss of his house back in England.

Later, in 1815, the two sons of the Viscount's only sister were drowned when their boat capsized off the shore at Bognor. The monk's words seemed to be ringing true at last. By fire and water!

Continue if you would like to read William Frankland Arrives in Findon.